nuclear-news

Russia keen to sell nuclear reactors to UK, as long as UK subsidises price

RUSSIA’S ROSATOM EYES NUCLEAR CONTRACTS IN BRITAIN YAHOO NEWS, BY SVETLANA BURMISTROVA , 13 Aug 13,  MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian state nuclear company Rosatom is considering selling reactors in Britain and will soon decide whether to apply for a UK reactor licence, a senior company executive said.

Rosatom is now building more atomic power plants than any other vendor and has been marketing the legacy of the former USSR’s own nuclear disaster, at Chernobyl in 1986, as a lesson learned in nuclear safety.

A major player in developing markets such as China, Vietnam and India, Rosatom has long been interested in building reactors in the European Union, where it is already a supplier of nuclear fuel…… Russian nuclear technology has been unpopular in western Europe since the Chernobyl disaster, but Britain is in dire need of investors willing to replace its ageing nuclear fleet after a series of utility companies, including Germany’s RWE and E.ON and Britain’s Centrica , have dropped out…….

Before entering the UK market, Komarov said, Rosatom would wait to see whether EDF reaches a deal with the British government on a guaranteed minimum power price for its proposed Hinkley Point project, Britain’s first new nuclear plant in almost 20 years.

The guaranteed price, also known as a contract-for-difference (CfD), is part of a major electricity market reform, currently being assessed by Parliament, to encourage types of energy that emit little or no carbon.

Through the CfDs, the government guarantees to top up prices to reach an agreed ‘strike price’ for power generated by the nuclear plants, should market prices fall after they are commissioned.

“This is a very comfortable scheme that guarantees return on investments,” Komarov said. EDF expects to announce by year-end whether it has reached a deal with the British government and plans to hold talks on partnering with a Chinese state-run firm.

“We are waiting to see what agreements EDF reaches,” Komarov said. “If we see that we can get a return on our investments, we will enter the project with great desire……. http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/18488685/russias-rosatom-eyes-nuclear-contracts-in-britain/

August 14, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics international, Russia, UK